Ceremonial or Courthouse marriage, does it matter?

[bunny82]

Me and my fiance will be marrying in a few months. Our plan was to have a courthouse marriage, as right now, we cannot afford an actual traditional wedding (immigration is expensive!). We were then going to have an actual ceremony with family, with wedding planning and the works, maybe 6ish months to a year after he is here, to give us time to have a little money, etc. However, would this be frowned upon in our application? I know they like to see wedding photos and have wedding details, etc. I don't want us to look bad and ingenuine, and fear that maybe we will if we do it like that. Any tips or advice? Thanks!

 

[bigredmoose]

Me and my fiance will be marrying in a few months. Our plan was to have a courthouse marriage, as right now, we cannot afford an actual traditional wedding (immigration is expensive!). We were then going to have an actual ceremony with family, with wedding planning and the works, maybe 6ish months to a year after he is here, to give us time to have a little money, etc. However, would this be frowned upon in our application? I know they like to see wedding photos and have wedding details, etc. I don't want us to look bad and ingenuine, and fear that maybe we will if we do it like that. Any tips or advice? Thanks!

I wouldn't say it'll be a problem, but it may cause them to give you extra scrutiny. The main driver there will be your background. If it's unusual in your/his culture to have small wedding, they're going to want to be satisfied that it isn't an immigration scam.

Overcome their concerns by explaining why you had a small wedding and including tons of proof that your relationship is genuine.

Also, and maybe this is just me not understanding other cultures, but you can't get married to the same person twice without getting divorced first. So having a courthouse wedding and then an actual ceremony doesn't make sense. You can have a big party and maybe some kind of affirmation ceremony 6 months after the courthouse wedding, but you can't get married again.

 

[bunny82]

Thank you!

Of course I know we cannot marry twice I just meant that we plan to have an actual wedding ceremony once we can afford it. We would already be married but would kinda just do it over and as you said, have an affirmation ceremony.

I am Canadian and he is American, so, I am not sure what they would think of a courthouse marriage.

I just worry and I am not sure if our explanation for having a courthouse marriage will be enough or convincing enough. It wouldn't be a small wedding, it wouldn't be a wedding at all, it would be at a courthouse, so it just concerns me.

Do many couples have courthouse marriages on here and their applications get accepted?

 

[bigredmoose]

Thank you!

Of course I know we cannot marry twice I just meant that we plan to have an actual wedding ceremony once we can afford it. We would already be married but would kinda just do it over and as you said, have an affirmation ceremony.

I am Canadian and he is American, so, I am not sure what they would think of a courthouse marriage.

I just worry and I am not sure if our explanation for having a courthouse marriage will be enough or convincing enough. It wouldn't be a small wedding, it wouldn't be a wedding at all, it would be at a courthouse, so it just concerns me.

Do many couples have courthouse marriages on here and their applications get accepted?

There is nothing suspicious about your situation, especially if you're both North American. A marriage at a courthouse is just as real as any other. There are tons of people who wouldn't be comfortable marrying at a church, for example. Honestly, I wouldn't sweat it. Just include a bunch of pictures of the day, including of your families, and a note explainging it all. Who was there, etc.

 

[jamsham12]

I would submit proof that this marriage was not out if connivence or for immigration purposes, such as evidence that you have had prior interactions, whether it be trips to see each other , chat logs, pictures and what not. Doesn't matter if u had 1000 ppl at ur wedding or if u were married at a courthouse, cic would just like sufficient evidence that this marriage is legitimate and out of love and not for connivence and immigration purposes.

 

[bunny82]

I do have evidence. Many photos from when he has made visits (he will be here again tomorrow, so, more photos and we also have photos with my family), and also emails, FB chats, etc. Not sure how you show those things as evidence though (FB chats?). We have mostly connected thru FB for our whole relationship since it is all free (messaging and calls). I also have gifts/cards and things he has given me/made me. Also he could show his passport, where he made visits here. Anything else? For a courthouse wedding, I cannot really see my parents being there for that, but, then it would look bad I suppose to not have family there. It IS a genuine relationship. We want to spend the rest of our lives together. We just don't have the money right now for a wedding ceremony and reception. It's just too much right now and unsure of exactly when we could afford it. I just don't want it to affect our application.

 

[cali2bc]

My husband and I had a courthouse ceremony on New Year's Eve with just the two of us and it was so much fun. We didn't have the money at the time to have the kind of wedding that we really wanted, so this was the best option for us. We are currently planning our big wedding celebration for next year. We won't live together until we are granted PR, because we both need to be able to work until then.

Just provide quality photos that show that your relationship is genuine. You might consider inviting your parents to the courthouse. I am finding it a little awkward to explain that we kept our day to ourselves, even though my family was an hour away and could have made it.

 

[CherPare]

We had a civil ceremony in a restaurant with our families and a couple of friends. My dad couldn't make it and my husband's parents both didn't come. His uncles/aunts were all there and my aunts/mom. It wasn't what I would've dreamed but I also am not a wedding person and think it's a huge waste of money. LOL.

I wanted to elope to Vegas.

We put the pictures into the application and explained that we were saving to have a ceremony later on a cruise ship after he received his PR and everything is going well. I also made sure to clearly state that we are NOT fans of big weddings and even our renewal ceremony will be small... it's just too much money for us to see the point. Haha We included lots of other proof and so far have had no issues with our application!

As for the pp saying you can't have a ceremony and a courthouse marriage... this is true but you can renew your vows anytime. This is basically retaking the vows you said to each other in the courthouse so it's pretty close to what you'd want to recreate for your more traditional wedding.

 

[Christoph100]

We had a small civil marriage. neither one of us had our parents present as our parents did not like the idea of flying. It was well explained in our application as to why we only had our civil ceremony. To make things even worse I had no one from my family at all. My wife had her sister and brother inlaw present along with what could be called a sponsor who was a Thai friend of ours. The judge would not allow us to marry with out a true Thai representing us and translating through out on our behalf. That evening we had a restaurant celebration of our marriage with many Filipino friends and our Thai sponsor and his family. The important thing we had done was it was all documented we had pictures taken of everything including us signing our Marriage Registration, and pictures at the restaurant celebration.

Yes the type of marriage does not really matter. The only thing that matters is that the marriage is a true registered marriage recognized by Canada.

Chris